Withdraw the Resolution to Cancel the 2nd Weekend of Ultra Music Festival

As attendees, fans, and supporters of Ultra Music Festival, we are adamantly opposed to the City of Miami's Proposed Resolution that would divest the Bayfront Park Management Trust of the power to authorize Ultra Music Festival to hold their event for two weekends. We oppose this for several reasons.

1) The Proposed Resolution provides absolutely no specifics of any "nuisance behavior" by Ultra Music Festival attendees. This is based in stereotyping of electronic music fans, not in fact or evidence.

2) The resolution provides absolutely no evidence that two weekends of moderate "noise...and gridlocked traffic" would be disproportionately detrimental to businesses, as opposed to the customary one weekend.

3) Contrary to being a nuisance, Ultra Music Festival and the accompanying Miami Music Week contributed $79 million to the South Florida economy in 2012 alone (according to a Washington Economics Group study published by the Miami Herald). These figures are likely to increase if the event occurs for two weekends rather than one, further benefiting the businesses that the proposed resolution claims are "disrupted."

4) The Commission has previously approved, by majority vote, several measures designed to accomodate Ultra Music Festival's move to two weekends, implicitly approving of the change. Abruptly changing course at the 11th hour would unfairly inconvenience Ultra Music Festival's attempts at hosting an event that takes years to plan, and would erode confidence in the City of Miami's reliability for hosting large-scale events. It could also further expose the City of Miami and the Bayfront Park Management Trust to legal liability for breach of contract, costing taxpayers valuable dollars.

We call on City of Miami Commissioner Marc Sarnoff to withdraw his proposed resolution and issue a public apology for unfairly profiling fans of electronic music as "nuisance[s]", and for damaging the business of Ultra Music Festival by casting doubt upon the integrity of their event.

This petition was delivered to:

CommissionerFrancis Suarez

Marc SarnoffCITY OF MIAMI COMMISSION

MayorTomas P. Regalado

3 more decision makers...

CommissionerWifredo (Willy) Gort

CommissionerMichelle Spence-Jones

CommissionerFrank Carollo

Letter to

CommissionerFrancis Suarez

Marc SarnoffCITY OF MIAMI COMMISSION

MayorTomas P. Regalado

CommissionerWifredo (Willy) Gort

CommissionerMichelle Spence-Jones

CommissionerFrank Carollo

Withdraw the Resolution to Cancel the 2nd Weekend of Ultra Music Festival